People downsize for many reasons; money, empty nest, better location, etc. But what happens when you're in the new space? There's a lot to think about when you find yourself with a few less square feet.

We know a few people who recently downsized and it was actually pretty exciting for them. They had the ability to almost start from scratch. They knew they weren't going to have the square footage they were used to; so it was time for them to purge a lot of furniture and gave them the ability to completely redesign their layout. We offered up suggestions from our Small Cool 2009 entries to help with inspiration.

Have you had to downsize? What were some of your favorite parts of the process? Did you have a hard time figuring out what to do with all of your things?